By Mario Xuereb
BRIMBANK’S billion-dollar pokies loss has staggered local community leaders and gambling counselors.
Star reported last week that punters had lost more than $1 billion in Brimbank’s 15 gaming venues since the introduction of electronic gaming 14 years ago.
The sums lost show no sign of slowing down, with Brimbank residents losing another $10.7 million in August – the second-highest figure in the state and higher than more populated municipalities such as Casey and Geelong.
Council of Gamblers’ Help Services executive officer Eddie Chapman said the $1 billion loss revealed the impact of gaming on the community.
“I think the figure is a good reality check – we realise just what impact in local communities these machines are having,” Mr Chapman said.
“And while the machines do bring employment into the region, the result is $1 billion being stripped out of a community in a short period of time.”
Brimbank mayor Natalie Suleyman said she was concerned at the huge losses and said more needed to be done to address problem gambling without punishing responsible gamblers.
She said the responsible gaming message was not getting through to ethnic communities.
“Clearly the figures are alarming and there needs to be much more done to assist those people with problem gambling, (with the) emphasis being on problem gamblers,” Cr Suleyman said.
“Now considering that most of our population comes from non-English-speaking backgrounds, I think agencies need to be proactive and focus on these ethnic groups.
Mr Chapman said it was hard for agencies to specifically target problem gamblers.
“The assumption is that you can target the problems of just a section of gamblers – that it’s purely about the individual,” he said.
“It’s more about the setup of the gambling sector and how is encourages problem gambling.
“The fact is that most of our clients did not have addictive behaviours before poker machines came along.”
Cr Suleyman also raised the possibility of councils having a greater say in gambling policy and advocacy if they received a direct slice of gaming revenue.
“I support any measure that gives local government the power to deal with this particular issue, but with any added responsibility we need to be financially able to deal with it,” she said.
“And that’s our policy – we want the money spent through gambling to come back to the community.”
But Cr Suleyman said she did support the closure of gaming venues, citing job losses as an unavoidable result.
“Ultimately it’s people’s choice whether or not they spend money gambling or not,” she said.
“Unfortunately a group of residents do have problem and $1 billion is staggering amount, no doubt.”
Amanda Jones, also with the Council of Gamblers’ Help Services, works with problem gamblers in Brimbank.
She said there was evidence that about half of poker machine users were problem gamblers or at high risk of developing a problem.
Ms Jones said the Council of Gamblers’ Help Services called on the government to disable bank note acceptors and limit free spins on machines.
The council is also considering trialing pre-paid gaming systems, where punters decide ahead of playing how much money to gamble in total.
Brimbank Greens councillor Miles Dymott said there needed to be a more urgent response to problem gambling.
He called the $1 billion losses “shocking” and said the state government was addicted to gaming revenue.
